Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Justice Yemen-style: Paedophile who raped boy, 11, shot in the head in front of hundreds of spectators

This is criminal justice, Yemen style. A man accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old boy is paraded through his home town before being shot dead by an executioner. Hundreds of onlookers lined the streets to watch the gruesome scene, cheering and shouting abuse at Yehya Hussein al-Raghwah. The boy, Hamdi al-Kabas, had reportedly come into his shop for a haircut last December during the Muslim festival of Eid. After brutally attacking him, the barber cut his body into pieces and dumped them outside the capital Sana'a.

Yemenis gather to watch a Yemeni soldier execute a man, lying face down on a large piece of red cloth, his hands bound behind him. He was given the death penalty by a Yemeni court a month later after apparently admitting his crime. Shocking images of his final moments were released following the execution yesterday. First he leaves the city's central prison, handcuffed and dressed in white robes. Fear etched on his face, he is surrounded by soldiers as he is led towards a ceremonial red carpet. He is allowed to say a final prayer, his shirt is then ripped open before he is laid face down. As a police official reads out his sentence for the last time, a doctor oversees his treatment and crowds - which appear to include children - jeer and punch the air, some filming his final moment on their mobile phones.

Yahya Hussein al-Raghwah prepares himself before the execution

Yemeni police officers, accompanied by a doctor, left, place al-Raghwah face down prior to his execution in front of the central prison in San'a. A soldier brandishes his machine gun at the nape of the barber's neck, and within a split second it is all over. His death brings the number of executions in the country this year to nine.

Yemen is one of 59 countries which retains the death penalty, and one of its most prolific users, according to Amnesty International.

It is deployed for a variety of violent and non-violent crimes including apostasy and adultery. Last year Yemen executed 13 people, according to those Amnesty has verified. But as no official figures are released the real toll could be far higher. All of those died by firing squad but in recent years there have been reports of stonings and beheadings. The deeply religious desert country has a poor human rights record and it is unclear if the barber had a fair trial. Under sharia law, which applies in Yemen, relatives of the victims of certain categories of murder have the power to pardon the offender in exchange for compensation, grant a pardon freely or request his or her execution.

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